Take Action to Support 9th Street Safety Improvements!

9th Avenue cyclists: We want a Bike Lane

The DOT's plan will make 9th Street safer for everyone who walks, bikes and drives on it.

At the March the 29 Community Board 6 Transportation Committee meeting, the DOT presented a plan to improve pedestrian safety, provide traffic calming and install bike lanes on 9th Street, one of the most hazardous streets in Park Slope, Brooklyn. There was vocal debate between supporters and people who oppose the safety improvements, but, in the end, the committee voted 4 to 2 to recommend that the full Board support the traffic safety plan.

Now the plan's opponents are working furiously to stop these improvements!

This Wednesday, April 11 at 6:30 pm, the full Community Board will consider the committee's recommendation.

Transportation Alternatives and Park Slope Neighbors are working to rally local support for this plan.

Members of the public are not allowed to participate in discussion at the full Community Board meeting so, if you want to voice support for this plan you have until the end of business on Wednesday to send an e-fax to Brooklyn Community Board 6's chair, Richard Bashner, and the co-chairs of the board's transportation committee, Louise Finney and William Blum. If you live or work within Community Board 6 or Park Slope your message of support is very important.

We need a very strong showing of public support to convey the broad backing for this smart plan and to ensure that the DOT follows through on it.

You can see the DOT's presentation on the 9th Street "road diet" at: streetsblog.org/2007/03/29/dots-9th-street-plan/

For more background on this traffic safety improvement, see: transalt.org/streetbeat/2007/Apr/0405.html#bikelanes

E-Fax to Transportation Committee Chair & Co-Chairs: Subject: Dear Mr. Bashner, Ms. Finney & Mr. Blum, At Thursday, March 29's Community Board 6 Transportation Committee meeting, the NYC Department of Transportation presented a plan to improve pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist safety on 9th Street, and the committee voted four to two to recommend that the full Community Board support the safety plan. I'm writing to you today to echo the committee's support for this plan and to urge Community Board 6 to vote for it. CrashStat.org shows clearly that 9th Street has some of the highest rates of pedestrian injuries in all of Park Slope. In the summer of 2004, after a car crashed into the front door of Dizzy's Restaurant on 8th Avenue and 9th Street, 1,200 neighborhood residents signed a petition asking DOT to do something about this problem. I believe the plan that is now before Community Board 6 is an appropriate response to this serious community concern. The DOT's plan offers many benefits. By putting 9th Street on a "road diet," the plan will improve safety for walkers, bikers, drivers and passengers of all ages and abilities. This proven and effective traffic calming measure will slow speeding drivers and better organize traffic, reducing swerving. It will make left-turns easier for drivers and safer for pedestrians. It will allow traffic to flow more smoothly without promoting speeding while giving cyclists a safe space to ride along this important bike route linking Central Brooklyn to the waterfront. The DOT made similar changes on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights, and they resulted in a safer, more livable street that better serves the community's needs. Ninth Street is a planned route in the City's official Bicycle Master Plan, and striping bike lanes here and implementing this portion of the plan will make this already popular bike route safe for the great number of people who ride there each day. The City Departments of Health, Transportation and Police's recent joint study on 200+ bicyclist fatalities that occurred over the last ten years found that only one cyclist death occurred in a marked bike lane. The bike lanes will also make useful connections to the 3rd Avenue, 5th Avenue and Red Hook bike lanes, making cycling more convenient for the many Park Slopers who already ride or want to start. In sum, please register my support for the DOT's plan to make 9th Street safer for walkers, bikers, drivers, bus riders, residents and businesses. I urge the members of Community Board 6 to vote in favor of this plan. Sincerely,
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Please include your full contact information so that your message will be treated as official correspondence. Your message will be faxed to Community Board 6 and a copy e-mailed to Transportation Alternatives.

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